Nadiem Amiri “appears to have changed his mind again” and may be ready to move to Leeds United after all, according to Kicker.
The German publication reported on their website Monday (28 August) that the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder can now “imagine” a move to Elland Road after the Whites beat Ipswich 4-3 on Saturday to show signs of life in their season.
The midfielder had “cancelled” the move on Friday (25 August) after the entire deal had been negotiated between the two clubs and the player, having “repeatedly wavered” as he didn’t want to move his heavily pregnant wife and was concerned that he would be stuck in the Championship for more than a year after Leeds’ poor start to the season.
But after the first win of the campaign at Portman Road the 26-year-old is once again reconsidering, in what Kicker refers to as an “extraordinary transfer story”, with the Leeds move seen as a “sporting and financial opportunity”.
If he decides to go ahead with the switch it should now “go ahead quickly” with a fee of around €6million [£5.15m] including bonuses already set, and a four-year deal ready to go.
What a difference a win makes, not only to the feeling around Elland Road but to the way the club is viewed elsewhere.
The new-look attacking line-up of big-money striker signing Joel Piroe, with club-record forward Georginio Rutter, and the pair of previously wantaway wingers Willy Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra either side were formidable against Ipswich.
All four scored to inject life into Daniel Farke’s promotion push, so soon after the German was left naming incomplete substitute benches.
That looks to have resurrected the Amiri deal ahead of the deadline and he may now be back in line to be added to the Leeds United XI behind that dynamic forward line.
Whether Farke will still be prepared to give the green light on signing the German international given he has already indicated he may not be 100% committed remains to be seen.
The Whites boss has had enough to deal with along those lines with his current squad, and after Amiri was left on the bench for Bayer Leverkusen over the weekend and has possibly been convinced by one result in England there may now be doubts on the buyer’s side.
Predicting what will happen next, after Amiri had already come close to signing for Marseille ahead of Leeds’ involvement, looks impossible, but a deal that looked dead now appears to be alive once more.